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A recent report by the anti-fracking Environment Texas (ET) and the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) claims to have found abnormally high emissions from certain industrial sites associated with oil and natural gas activities. Specifically, the report looked at air emissions during routine maintenance (often performed to keep operations safe) and malfunctions, based on state documents. By listing off various chemicals and numbers, downplaying the strictness of current regulations, and prioritizing emissions over safety, ET and EIP attempt to portray these events as intentionally malicious as opposed to regulated, permitted, and often unavoidable due to safety issues.

Prioritizing Temporary Air Emissions over Safety

According to the report, operators in Texas must obtain permits for planned maintenance activities, which include a timeframe of when maintenance will occur and estimates of emissions that will take place during that time. Maintenance often includes routine activities to confirm proper equipment functionality and ensure the safety of workers at these sites, such as venting excess gas to alleviate pressure. The authors argue that these maintenance emissions should be measured and capped, but that “lax” laws in Texas allow for operators to exceed these estimated emissions during maintenance, stating:

“Unfortunately, the State of Texas allows for industrial sources to exceed permitted limits when plants undergo planned maintenance, often treating these routine activities as though they are unavoidable malfunctions.”

Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas wrote in EIP’s press release on the study:

“By their own admission, polluters in Texas are routinely and egregiously violating the law and endangering public health with unauthorized emissions. And too often regulators look the other way when polluters break the law. This lawlessness must come to an end,” 

Illegal? Hardly. As the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) operation requirements for scheduled maintenance, startup, and shutdown activities View Full Article